Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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political power. Guru Arjan had set the ball rolling by courting
martyrdom in pursuance of an ‘open profession of his faith.’ Guru
Gobind Singh assigned such symbols to every member of the Khalsa
that he became a living insignia, distinguishable from a distance, of
the ‘open revolution’ he launched. It was a direct confrontation between
the Mughal state and the Khalsa. There were no illusions on either
side. At least, the Sikhs knew that there could be no compromise
between their revolution and the established order it wanted to
overthrow. 45 The Khalsa spurned Abdali’s offer of a compromise and
fined Ala Singh for accepting honour from him. 46 The Rehatnamas are
full of injunctions warning the Singhs not to have any contact with
the Mughals (Turk) at any level whatsoever. 47 They are required to
remain armed at all times and to be at guard against the enemy even
when performing their natural functions. 48 This was how the Sikh
Revolution was conceived as an armed struggle perpetuum.
The character of the Sikh Revolution as a direct armed struggle
is also confirmed by the high price in blood and sufferings it had to
pay. In this regard the French Revolution stands no comparison. The
fall of Bastille is remembered as a great event and turning point in the
history of the French Revolution. Its garrison consisted of only 80
superannuate soldiers, reinforced by 30 Swiss. The revolutionaries who
stormed it suffered 98 causalities in killed and 73 wounded; whereas
only one of the old soldiers was hit. 48a The demonstrators of Germinal
dispersed without offering any resistance when Merlin of Thionville
appeared at the head of loyal troops. The popular revolt or Prairial
was one of the most stubborn resistance offered; but in the end the
faubourg surrendered without a shot when invested by troops. A
military commission tried 149 persons and sentenced 36 to death and
37 to prison and deportation. There were further proscriptions and
arrests but no-large scale executions of the revolutionaries. ‘It was an
important turning-point. With the proscription and removal of its
leaders (both actual and potential) the Parisian sans-culottes ceased
to exist as a political and military force.’ 48b With that ceased to exist
the spearhead of the French Revolution of 1783-1815. And a little
later, Bonaparte’s famous ‘whiff of grapeshot’ fully established the